We write a lot about draft strategies in August but don’t always get the chance to revisit our decisions. In some cases, we actively avoid reflection because it reveals our shortcomings and our mistakes. No one likes to admit they were wrong, but it’s the first step to improvement. Other times, it may seem pointless to review a season that was largely defined by injury luck.

Let me do the dirty work for you then. I’m going to take an unbiased look at the key players to define several popular draft strategies and see how they fared in 2024.

There are clear winners and losers. To get the most out of this article, focus less on nit-picking the details of a theoretical draft (it’s impossible to simulate every possibility) and more on big-picture takeaways. We can talk about the probability of success for a particular strategy while recognizing that misfortunes can and do happen every season.

The biggest takeaway of the 2024 season is to remain flexible. Over-committing to a strategy during the draft or a player during the season is not optimal. Yes, we play a game of fantasy football, but we can’t win if we’re living in a world where our players “should” be great, “could” have a breakout game, or “might” finally turn in a worthwhile performance. Moving on from our draft-day mistakes is the best way to win. Now let’s get to the strategy review.

ZeroRB

Defining player selections: CeeDee Lamb, Tyreek Hill, Justin Jefferson, Ja’Marr Chase, Amon-Ra St. Brown, D’Andre Swift, Raheem Mostert, Tyjae Spears, David Montgomery, Chase Brown, Jaylen Warren, James Conner, Blake Corum

The move for zeroRB is to load up on high-quality wide receivers early and often, preferably waiting until at least Round 5 to select the first running back. The logic is that running backs have a higher bust rate than wide receivers and are in a position to sustain injuries at a higher rate. The strategy developed as the league moved from a run-heavy, bell-cow back model to a more pass-heavy, running-back by-committee model. Although 2024 has been called the Year of the Running Back (and I don’t disagree), zeroRB loyalists had a fine year.

Hill is the only really bad bust among first-round receivers, although I know Lamb’s managers aren’t happy with their return on investment. Part of the strength of the zeroRB strategy is WR depth, so how you backed up the elite WR you took in Round 1 arguably mattered more than the first pick of the draft. In 2024, the WR fantasy-point cliff was pretty steep. A handful of Round 2-4 WRs would have made a team nearly loss-proof (Nico Collins, Malik Nabers, Mike Evans, Tee Higgins, Terry McLaurin) but most were not worth the draft capital you spent on them (Chris Olave, Marvin Harrison Jr., Jaylen Waddle, D.J. Moore, Brandon Aiyuk, Michael Pittman Jr., George Pickens, Deebo Samuel and more).

When it comes to the mid-late round running backs, there are also more misses than hits. Brown and Montgomery were above average and great values based on ADP. Conner and Swift were solid, and Conner was a massive boon if you played in the first two rounds of the fantasy playoffs this season. But popular summer picks of Warren, Mostert, Corum and Spears fell flat. Drafting a running back who started on IR was disastrous (Nick Chubb and Jonathon Brooks). I didn’t do it this year and likely won’t in the future either.

Grade: B-

Conclusion: ZeroRB wasn’t as successful of a strategy as it has been in the past few seasons. A good amount of luck and active management were needed to succeed.

HeroRB

Defining player selections: Christian McCaffrey, Breece Hall, Bijan Robinson, Saquon Barkley, Jonathan Taylor

With heroRB, the strategy is to select one awesome RB to anchor a roster, followed by several top-tier WRs, an elite TE and/or a dual-threat QB. I liked this strategy most heading into 2024, and I still think it affords managers the most freedom to take advantage of opportunities the draft presents. Your only commitment is to the first round, which worked well from any draft position except 1.01.

McCaffrey was the biggest whiff of the season, which has been said enough. What hasn’t been said enough is that the top player from the previous season is almost never the top player in the following season. Is it a logical fallacy to avoid drafting last year’s top RB or WR at the 1.01? Yes, and to be fair, drafting McCaffrey at any position in the first round yielded the same disastrous results. If you didn’t immediately panic and pick up Jordan Mason, you were at a disadvantage from Week 1.

Otherwise, I still like the heroRB philosophy. Hall wasn’t great, but he didn’t kill rosters either. In one mock draft I did where I took Hall at 1.04, Kyren Williams fell to me in the second round, and I decided rostering two heroes was my best move. Adding Joe Burrow and Brock Bowers later made this a viable roster. If you lucked into (or reached for) Robinson, Barkley, Taylor or even waited until the second round to select your hero — Derrick Henry, Williams or Jahmyr Gibbs — you reaped the rewards.

Grade: A-

Conclusion: There were pitfalls, but overall, heroRB was a great strategy for 2024 and should be again in 2025. The depth in the first two rounds at RB could lead some drafters back to a more traditional RB-RB draft. But the success of taking two RBs in the first two rounds depends entirely on draft position and who’s available next year.

Late-round QB

Defining player selections: Brock Purdy, Jared Goff, Trevor Lawrence, Jayden Daniels, Kirk Cousins

The late-round QB strategy is built on the idea that the difference between the best QB and the 12th-best QB isn’t large enough to justify the ADP difference, whereas the void between the top RB/WR and the 30th-best RB/WR is. Therefore, it makes more sense to wait on QB than other skill positions.

The trend of hit or miss continues, but there are more misses than hits if you waited on QB this year. Other names that could be included here include Daniel Jones, Will Levis, Aaron Rodgers and Justin Fields. Among the typically drafted players by ADP in single-QB leagues, only Daniels and Goff returned the exceptional value you want from the key position in fantasy football. Purdy was solid, finishing as QB13. No one had undrafted eventual Top-10 QBs like Baker Mayfield, Bo Nix or Sam Darnold on their late-round radar unless they played in Superflex or 2QB leagues.

The thing with late-round QB is that you’ve invested so little that you can more easily pivot. It’s a lot easier to drop a 10th-round pick when they’re not performing than it is a second-rounder, which enabled some managers who used this strategy to pick up Darnold or Mayfield early on.

Grade: C

Conclusion: Unless you were fast and loose on the waiver wire, this strategy was more likely to bite you than propel you to victory.

Elite QB

Defining player selections: Josh Allen, Jalen Hurts, Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Anthony Richardson

At the opposite end of the spectrum are the early-round QB drafters. They are usually after the dual-threat QBs, who can rack up fantasy points with rushing yards and touchdowns (some leagues are aiming to neutralize this advantage by making all touchdowns worth six points). But managers desperate to draft an ace QB early still may have reached for Mahomes, Joe Burrow or C.J. Stroud, depending on draft position.

Allen, Jackson and Hurts were projected as the Top 3 fantasy QBs ahead of the 2024 fantasy draft and deserve the same treatment in 2025. Allen and Jackson took the top two spots in 2024, and Hurts finished as QB8. While QB12 Mahomes eventually put up some good fantasy numbers, the Chiefs won games without flashy fantasy stats from him or anyone else. The bigger disappointment came with Anthony Richardson due to injury as well as coaching and management chaos. Richardson has the talent to be a top-tier QB, but he has a lot of work to do before he’ll be considered elite in drafts again.

Some other big names were also a mixed bag. After an 8.06 fantasy-point performance in Week 1, QB3 Burrow was as good as it gets for a pocket passer (and even he exceeded 200 yards on the ground this season). Stroud is one of the bigger letdowns and mysteries of 2024, having taken a step back from his 2023 rookie season. Yes, he lost Collins for a while, but that doesn’t explain his massive increase in interceptions or decrease in goal-line rushes (zero rushing touchdowns this season after three in his first year). I’m very curious what we’ll see from him in the playoffs and how fantasy managers treat Stroud next year. He may very well join Richardson as an upside pick for the late-round QB camp.

Grade: A-

Conclusion: You have to get a true elite for this strategy to work, and that meant Allen, Jackson and Burrow for 2024. I expect Daniels to be a top-five QB target ahead of the draft next year. But if you miss on the QBs who are elite year after year, it’s better to pivot and wait for an up-and-coming dual-threat candidate in the later rounds than to draft the next QB by ADP just because you committed to a strategy.

Elite TE

Defining player selections: Sam LaPorta, Travis Kelce, Dalton Kincaid, Trey McBride, Mark Andrews

For an elite TE drafter, the logic is that the position is a dumpster fire for fantasy, and therefore, fantasy managers need to invest in the best at TE. If only a handful of players can provide good, consistent value, locking up one of them in the first three rounds of your draft makes sense. It’s not stupid, but it sure looked like it in 2024.

This strategy yielded terrible results for managers stubborn enough to stick with it. None of the Top 5 TEs were worth their draft capital, except McBride, who didn’t even score his first TD until Week 17. Boring old George Kittle and David Njoku were better draft values, but it was the exciting rookie you could have landed in Round 9 that won the position — Brock Bowers. Jonnu Smith, who entered the league with high expectations, went undrafted this season and finally had his (long-anticipated) breakout season.

LaPorta and Kincaid really let managers down, but due to positional scarcity, past performance and a ton of hype, they were nearly impossible to drop. Drop Kincaid?! Unthinkable in Week 3. After all, the Bills needed pass-catchers right? Wrong.

Kelce and Andrews eventually had some decent numbers, and for some managers, it was too little too late. The lesson might be that no TE is a first- or second-round draft pick. The position is too volatile and unpredictable.

Grade: D

Conclusion: It’s so rarely worth it to use an early pick on a tight end. There were the peak Kelce years, and maybe Bowers will be that guy for the next decade, but that’s one player. Basing your draft around taking an “elite” TE early is not the way to go. You simply miss out on too much other positional value.

(Photo of Jalen Hurts and Saquon Barkley: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images)